Government officials are investigating a newly disclosed emissions software feature that could help Volkswagen Group vehicles to pass government tests, the company said.
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Jeanine Ginivan, a Volkswagen spokesperson, told the Associated Press that the use of this “auxiliary emissions control device” differs in function from the cheating software that sparked a major scandal last month, though it could potentially be used inappropriately.
Less than a month after an emissions cheating scandal rocked Volkswagen, the German auto company is dealing with fresh scrutiny regarding its diesel emissions software.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board have delayed approving a few 2016 diesel models from Volkswagen while they investigate the new software feature. The “auxiliary emissions control device” heats up a pollution control catalyst faster, boosting the performance of the device that separates nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases.
Horn told US lawmakers last week that the company subsequently had withdrawn its application for EPA certification of its 2016 diesel models.
The delay signifies that hundreds of 2016 Beetles, Golfs and Jettas will stay quarantined in D.R. ports till a fix could be developed, permitted and carried out. Diesel versions of the Passat sedan manufactured at the company’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also are on hold.
Volkswagen is still licking its wounds after the whole Dieselgate scandal – what are we saying, it doesn’t even know the full extent of its wounds yet – but further development suggests its current 2016 models could also be affected by a different kind of “defeat device”.
“This has the perform of a warmup technique which is topic to approval by the businesses”, stated Jeannine Ginivan, a VW spokeswoman.
Top Volkswagen executives said a few rogue software developers who wrote the original code were to blame but if another so-called “defeat device” is found on the new redesigned software, it would cast serious doubt on their claims.
The German automaker already faces as much as $ 18 billion in potential fines over the nearly half-million automobiles bought with the preliminary emissions-rigging software.
Last week, the head of Volkswagen’s USA business, Michael Horn, said only “a couple of software engineers” were responsible. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the ongoing investigation.
VW said Winfried Vahland resigned from the company Wednesday over “differing views on the organization” of the automaker’s North American business.
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Hendricks said diesel engines could only have a future if the industry could prove that it could “make them really clean”.
